


Of Course

by EllipsisCool



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Breakup, F/M, Ficlet, Hurt/Comfort, Kataang - Freeform, Minor Aang/Katara, Minor Sokka/Suki, Nightmares, One Shot, Protective Sokka (Avatar), Tokka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 21:57:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18819808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllipsisCool/pseuds/EllipsisCool
Summary: Sokka's been having a bad night, but it might turn out ok after all.





	Of Course

He couldn’t believe she broke up with him! At a wedding! One minute they’re dancing, the next she’s telling him they’ve “grown apart” and she needs some “time away.” He completely succumbed to his first instinct and yelled at her until she turned on her heel, gathered her warriors, and left the south pole. He stormed back into the banquet hall ready to whine to anyone who would listen when he spotted his sister practically glowing in her happiness. Her arms draped around Aang, her new husband. He whispered something in her ear. They looked so much in love and so happy that Sokka deflated. He walked back through the halls of his father’s house to his room.

For what seemed like hours he paced back and forth trying to figure out what went wrong before falling into bed in a graceless huff. A few minutes passed before a loud scream and a thud from the next room interrupted his brooding. Toph’s room was right next to his. What could possibly make the greatest earthbender in the world scream like that?

In an instant he jumped out of bed, grabbed his club, and ran down the hall. He flew through the door ready for a fight, but the room was dark and silent except for the small sobbing mound tangled in blankets on the floor. “Toph? What happened?”

She pulled herself up onto her hands, and it struck him how beautiful she’d become in the years since the war. The moonlight bathed her pale skin and dark hair in a soft glow, but she also seemed illuminated from within. The frustration and hurt he felt after Suki left momentarily subsided to be replaced with the stark realization that in this room with this woman, his best friend, was where he was supposed to be.

“What’s the matter, Meathead? I just fell out of bed,” she said with acid even as her voice wavered.

“Toph, you screamed like someone was killing you.”

“And you thought you’d come running in here to save me.” He couldn’t figure out why she seemed so angry with him. “Well I’m fine. Don’t you have Suki to get back to?”

Reminded of his loss he felt the pang of it once again and bowed his head. “Suki’s gone. She . . .she left me.”

Toph’s head tilted toward him, “You mean like _left_ you? That sucks.” She said in a softer tone before standing up and pulling the blankets around herself.

He felt super conflicted when his body reacted to the quick glimpse of her thin nightgown hugging her curves. Why didn’t he ever notice she had curves? _Whoa Sokka, think of Gran Gran,"_ he thought calming down considerably, but Toph starred toward him with her eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, she broke up with me just a few hours ago. I couldn’t sleep so I was awake when I heard you and I thought you were hurt so I . . . Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” she muttered.

Happy to get the topic off Suki and genuinely concerned for Toph he pushed her a little harder. “Are you sure?” He asked cautiously given Toph’s habit of hitting him. “I mean it might be helpful for you to talk about it.”

She considered it for a moment with her head slightly tilted then she said, “All right, meathead, sit down,” and plopped back onto the floor with her back leaning against the bed.

He sat next to her, his shoulder just barely touching hers.”So, the screaming.”

“Yeah, I, uh, had a nightmare,” she said like it was the most embarrassing thing in the world.

“Oh, it must have been a really bad one.”

She shrugged her shoulders and sighed, “Meh, I have them all the time. Dangling over an inferno completely blind does that to you.”

The bond they shared suddenly shook him to his core. Why hadn’t they ever had this conversation? “I get those too.”

“Doesn’t it seem like it’s been long enough that we shouldn’t?” She said quietly, her head bowed.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to shake them. War sucks. I have nightmares about all the times things could have gone much, much worse. Aang blowing Katara and I off the mountain, Appa crash landing, that library owl eating us alive, my dad dying in that explosion, Zuko letting Katara get hit by lightning, dropping you into the inferno . . .”

“That’s the one I have the most.” He looked over to her to find fresh tears streaking down her face. Her eyes covered by her bangs. Cautiously, not sure how she’d react, he maneuvered himself in front of her and cupped her face in his hands, wiping away the tears. To his surprise she learned into it.

“I want you to know I wouldn’t have let you die alone,” he said softly.

She looked up at him wide-eyed. “Sokka . .. I - “

The next thing he knew he was kissing her and she hesitantly kissed him back. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. In that moment he couldn’t figure out for the life of him why he’d never done this before. Then she pulled away.

“Sokka, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want this, but Suki just left you a few hours ago. I don’t want to be your rebound.”

“I know it seems crazy, but it’s not like that. Suki and I haven’t been a functioning relationship for a while as hard as it is for me to admit. I’m upset because I do love her, but this, with you, this doesn’t feel like rebounding, this feels like coming home.”

She hugged him tight. “Sokka will you stay with me tonight? No naughty business. I just don’t want to be alone anymore and don’t you ever tell anyone about this.”

He flinched expecting a punch in the arm, but surprisingly it never came so he held onto her and snuggled into her shoulder. She smelled like peonies and dirt, like spring in the Earth Kingdom. “Of course.”


End file.
